Lucy's Missing
by mnt31092
Summary: This is the reason why Don Flack shouldn't be allowed to babysit.


On long, miserable days like that day, one of the only moments Danny Messer looked forward to was his lunch break. After being on his feet all day, dealing with uncooperative suspects and equally uncooperative evidence, it was nice for him to just sit down and relax, even if it was only for a little while.

As soon as he entered the break room, he opened up the refrigerator and automatically reached for the brown paper bag he'd become so used to. He remembered how he used to laugh when one of the married lab techs would enter the break room with a lunch that their wife would make for them. Now though, he thought it was ridiculously sweet that his own wife would do such a thing. Even if they'd had a fight the night before, he would always wake up and see her making him his lunch, just so she knew he would eat that day. She was always looking out for him, which was one of the many reasons why he loved her so much.

That, and the fact that she always seemed to make the best sandwiches. Like today, for example. He grinned when he pulled out an increibly tasty looking turkey sandwich, piled with cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce. Just as he sat down at the table and took the sanwich out of the bag, ready to take a bite out of it, his phone began to ring. He groaned as he put the sandwich down and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"Messer," he answered, his voice not hiding the fact that he was annoyed by the inturruption.

"Danno, buddy, I've got a problem."

At the sound of Don Flack's worried voice on the other line, Danny's own worry quickly took over any feelings of annoyance. "What's wrong? Is everything alright?"

"No, not really," Flack said. Even though Danny couldn't see him, he knew that his best friend was probably pacing around the room, trying to figure out the best way to tell him whatever he needed to say. Just as he was about to ask again what was wrong, Flack began to speak again. "It's kinda about Lucy."

Now Danny was in a panic. All of his worst fears began to flood his mind at once and he felt like he was about to be sick. "What's going on? Is she okay? Is she hurt?"

"I don't exactly know if she's okay or not because she's kinda, sorta not here at the moment," Flack answered.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Danny was now the one who was pacing as he waited to hear what Flack answer was going to be.

"You see, I needed to go grocery shopping, and when I got back I set Lucy down and I went to put the bags away and I guess I forgot to shut the door and when I went back into the living room, Lucy was gone," he explained. "I've looked all over the building for her. You and Linds just need to get down here now."

Danny nodded as he rubbed his hand over his face, trying to make sense of what was happening. "Yeah, okay, we'll be there soon."

When he hung up the phone, he shook his head in disbelief. "What an idiot," he mumbled under his breath before he headed out into the halls of the lab to search for Lindsay.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Danny and Lindsay were standing outside of Flack's apartment, banging on the door. When he answered the door, he had a smile on his face.

"I don't think you have anything to be smiling about. You lost our daughter!" Lindsay exclaimed, pushing past him to enter the apartment. Danny followed, glaring at Flack as he did so. Flack calmly shut the door and turned to face the couple, a smile still on his face.

"I got you guys good," he said, trying hard not to laugh. "I guess you didn't look at the calandar. Happy April Fool's Day!"

Both Danny and Lindsay's jaws dropped as they stared at their friend.

"You think that's funny?" Danny asked. "You nearly gave us a heart attack! What makes you think it would be funny to prank us by telling us that our child is missing?!"

"Calm down, Mess. It was only a joke," he said.

"Yeah, well, not a very funny one," Lindsay said, glaring at him. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to see our daughter so I know that she's okay."

Flack nodded and went into the spare bedroom where he had put Lucy in. When he opened the door, his face fell. He disappeared into the room and a couple seconds later, Danny and Lindsay heard him curse loudly. He walked back out into the living room, his face pale.

"Where is she, Don?" Lindsay asked.

"The..the window...open...the window's open..."

Danny didn't let his friend finished. He ran into the room and stopped dead in his tracks from what he saw.

"What the hell, Flack?!! You left Lucy in a room with the window to the fire escape open and with a chair conveniently placed right next to the window?!!!? You know Lucy's a climber!!!"

At that moment, Lindsay began to cry and Flack felt like he was going to throw up. 

"I...I...I didn't know the window was open," he said as he ran into the room after Danny. "Don't worry, buddy. I'll find her." He ran over to the window and began to climb out. He had just gotten one leg out the window when he heard Danny speak.

"Happy April Fool's Day, you asshole."

Confused, Flack looked behind him and his eyes grew wide at what he saw. Danny was standing there with a smirk on his face, Lindsay was laughing, and Jess was standing between the two, Lucy in her arms.

"What...how...are you serious?!" Flack got his leg back into the bedroom before asking his friends, "How did you know?"

"Jess called us with your stupid plan a week ago," Lindsay explained. "And she was defintely willing to help us out, so she took Lucy out of the apartment when you were in the bathroom."

"By the way, your idea of a prank is really horrible," Danny said. "If I hadn't of known you were going to do this, I probably would've killed you for messing with us like that."

Flack nodded, understanding exactly what he meant by it not being a good prank. He understood now that he'd been pranked the same way.

Before Danny and Lindsay left, they all agreed that next year there would be no pranks involving Lucy.

They'd all just call Mac at 3:33 instead.

**A/N: It's a couple days late, but it's better late than never, right?**


End file.
